Orange County Heritage Coordinating Council

The evolution of The Orange County Register began on Nov. 25, 1905, when a group of businessmen launched the Santa Ana Register to serve Orange County's 20,000 residents. Through the years, the Register has continued to reinvent itself and grow with the region.

The First American Corporation traces its roots to 1889, when Orange County, California—a rural, undeveloped area at the time—split off from the county of Los Angeles. Two firms opened to handle title matters in the brand-new county. Five years later, C.E. Parker, a local businessman, succeeded in merging the two competitors into a single entity. He was named president of the resulting company—Orange County Title Company—the immediate predecessor to today’s First American Title Insurance Company, the largest subsidiary of The First American Corporation.